Manger, Cross And Crown

As I was pondering and seeking the Lord on what to share with you this evening, I was thinking about how we just finished up with Christmas and in just a few weeks we will be going into Lent and the Easter season. That really got me thinking about the different memorial seasons we observe to focus on different events in Jesus' life. The church calendar will look very different depending on your background. Obviously Catholics have a lot more holidays with the different feast days for the saints and other observances, but we Protestants/Evangelicals mostly observe five major holidays: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost.

Our key text for tonight touches on all of these themes. It comes from the Gospel according to… Isaiah! Have you ever heard it called that? The title comes from all of the messianic Prophecies it contains. Even if we didn't have the four Gospels in the New Testament, we could still learn a lot about Jesus just from reading Isaiah!

As we go along I will be revisiting some things that I have, shared with you before but this time I want to put them on a much larger spectrum. The title of the message is Manger, Cross and Crown. So with that in mind let's go to Isaiah chapter 53.

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:1?-?12 ESV

This is the well known prophecy of the Suffering Servant who is, of course, ultimately revealed to be Jesus.

CHRISTMAS

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we desire him.

Notice that it says the Messiah comas as a, "root out of dry ground." It was a very dry time because there hadn't been any prophetic messages from God in about 400 years. When Jesus does arrive on the scene there is not a lot of fanfare. The first people to hear about it were not kings or other nobility. Rather, the first people to be informed of Jesus' birth were shepherds working on a night watch. Nonetheless, an often overlooked prophecy indicates that these were no ordinary shepherds. The Book of Micah 4:8 foretells that the Messiah would be revealed from the Migdol Eder, or "Tower of the Flock." This was a watchtower where they kept the lambs which were to be used as sacrifices for the Jewish Passover holiday. So the Shepherd's responsible for these special lambs were the first called to see the One Who was to be the true Passover Lamb. Isn't that powerful?